The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier recently told the Los Angeles Times his dream of collaborating on one part of a quadrilogy of Avengers films for Marvel, which would be released over the course of one Summer:

“To work with Joe Johnston and [“Thor” director] Kenneth Branagh and Jon Favreau and make like a triptych. We do four movies. We release them one a month for the summer. Or even every two weeks or three weeks. And the whole summer would be Avengers summer. So we do it the way they make television shows. One story arc but told in installments by different directors. So all of the directors that touch part of the Avengers world would do a part; we could make the movies shorter, maybe less than an hour and a half, and we use the same sets and save Marvel money.

This idea is crazier and more implausible than Mark Millar’s pitch for an 8-hour epic Superman trilogy which ended with Superman being the last man on Earth. This is one of those ideas that clearly couldn’t ever happen, but that isn’t going to stop me from writing about it. How cool would it be to have a summer of superhero films where one bleeds into the next, each separated by only a few weeks or a month of time? Using the same sets, and filming at the same time would be complicated. Even if the films were shorter than normal, an hour and a half, or even an hour, photography would probably take over a year total. You’re essentially making the equivalent of two long movies. But releasing four special effects-heavy superhero films over the course of one summer isn’t very practical. Even a trilogy of films would be tough to pull off.
Lets forget practicality for one minute. Is there an Avengers story big enough to fill four films? Would you pay to see four Avengers movies in one Summer? I would. Hollywood often talks about striking while the iron is still hot. Summit pushed a Twilight sequel into production before they even had a script. A new Saw sequel hits theaters every Halloween. The theory is that the longer you wait between sequels, the more of a chance that moviegoers will grow away from the material, the franchise.
But big blockbuster films often operate on a different release theory all together. More time in between future sequel releases, allows studios to promote the films as cinema events that don’t happen too often. Would four Avengers films in one Summer dilute the event-nature of the superhero team-up, or would it propel and build as each film is released, month by month? It’s an interesting idea, fun to talk about, but it probably isn’t likely to ever happen.

Will never happen. Would be a logistical nightmare, besides what if the first movie sucks, then what?

I agree with the "logistical nightmare" part. They're all going to end up being four very different movies. The only things connecting them being Nick Fury and other minor cameos.

They are going to need a fifth director. Someone who won't imitate any styles of the previous movies and someone who can seamlessly blend the ideas of all four directors (naturally I would hope they plan on personally collaborating at some point) without making it seem like a freak show. The Avengers film still feels pretty unreal yet it's so close to happening. I'm only afraid that it's going to feel very off because of the differing tones in the films. I am glad they've been planning this for the last couple of years. The Avengers is not something to decide on after seeing how Capt America does. It's absolutely necessary to run a thread through all four characters' franchises.

And I don't know if anyone else mentioned this but the idea of all four actually directing (something which Letterier did not even mention) is not happening. They will collaborate. But none who are members will forfeit their DGA membership (and hence their titled credibility as filmmakers) to co-direct The Avengers.

This would confuse the hell out of the box office. They would almost be competing with themselves and would need to make each film stand on its own. It's just silly talk and nothing more. They need to (and will) focus on making one epic film that will destroy all others and all competition. Iron Man's popularity makes that a sure bet.

LL did a great job on Incredible Hulk. I wish Marvel had let him keep some of those deleted scenes in play. Watching the DVD extras and listening to his commentary, he shows he's VERY intelligent and a very good director. I'm looking forward to Clash of the Titans solely based on that fact. Marvel was smart to lock him up for multiple movies.

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It's an interesting concept, but I cant imagine it actually happening. I dont think anything like that's even been done before, really. One movie, split into 4 parts, with each part focusing on a different character, all released in a single summer.

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I don't think he's neccessarily saying one character for each film. I think he means that all 4 films would add up to a 5-6 hour movie by the end of the summer. Basically one big movie, split up into 4 parts, each directed by a different solo avenger director.

I think it's a brilliant idea, but that's coming from a fan who is going strictly off of wanting as much as he can get in one summer.
It's definitely a situation where you have a negative point for every good point you get. I could see it turning out sweet as long as a solid story and vision was agreed upon. I don't think that directorial styles will conflict with how the movie turns out that much. It's like he said, TV series have different directors for different episodes. Can you really pick out which ones are different if you didn't know the credits and the director didn't really suck worse than the others? So far, at least Louis and Jon have knocked it out of the park. If the others show they have the goods as well, there's no reason a collaboration wouldn't turn out good, as long as they keep in touch and know what each other's doing. Essentially it's a giant group project, but since they'll be seperate films in the end, it won't conflict with any DGA shenanigans. They could assign the directors according to their talents as well. Maybe Louis could direct the 4th part if it ends in an epic battle. The length of the film would be beneficial as well, not only as far as each character getting enough development and screen time (especially if the Pyms aren't introduced until the Avengers film), but let's say (and this is a hypothetical, so don't jump on me, any 616 fanboys/Ultimates haters) they decided to do a story that followed the Ultimates. They could have the first part be forming the team and Hulk going off the handle, but there could be an overall arch of the Hulk redeeming himself and they could include the next volume with the Chitauri/skrull invasion and a HUGE final battle, with the Banner bringing the Hulk under his full control and finally proving himself as 100% hero, and have a cool scene after the fight with everyone standing around and Janet saying "well, I think we're officially Superheroes." And it'd be cool for the first 3 films to have an after credits scene that is like a next episode preview like a TV show ("Next time on THE AVENGERS: ").

But like I said, for every positive there's a negative. I don't think the films will neccessarily compete with themselves, since it's technically one split up film and all the money comes back to the same studio, but you do have to worry about how long it would take to film it. Not necessarily for the directors, since they would do their part and be done and would only need to be a phone call away for consultation, leaving them free to work on any other projects they want, but for the actors. They'd need to be pretty dedicated to the role for that kind of work load. It takes a year for one movie, how long would it take for one 3 times that length?! Not to mention if they did go through with it, how long would it be between films (not between each chapter of that summer's story, but between each story itself)? How ready would they be to jump back into their respective hero's boots, which brings up the issue of more solo films happening in between?
Personally, I could live with some of the characters only showing up in avengers films from now on, but I'm sure many would disagree and I'm sure that isn't the plan anyway.

So, in the end, it's one of those "in a perfect world" scenarios. For real though, the negatives unfortunately balance the positives, and I think Marvel likes playing with better odds.

Either way, I don't think there are any doubts as to the directors at least collaborating and keeping in touch with each other (and whoever directs avengers if it's someone new) on a creative level if it's not possible for them all to co-direct. I'm sure there'll be some sort of massive round table meeting with writers, producers, directors, etc., an "assembling of the avengers" of sorts (if they haven't done it already), before it goes into full on production to get everyone on the boat before they hand it off to the guy and get going.

JackIvyGB, I think that you and I are pretty much thinking a lot of the same things. One giant ass Avengers film (even if it is split up, it's essentially one movie) would allow greater depth of character for newly introduced characters like the Pyms or Clint Barton. Not that I'd want them to take center stage, but still - character depth is a good thing. (IF it was going to happen, which I doubt, I would want the release of the DVD/Blu-Ray all at once...don't make me buy a separate disc for each part of the movie, sell it to me all at once at a higher price. You see how forward thinking I am? )

Like everyone's saying, it's probably not going to happen.

But, let us not forget - Samuel L. Jackson IS signed on for nine Marvel movies. Hmmm.

Assuming, however, that it's going to be one movie, not split-up, it's going to have to be at least two-hours.

i actually said in a thread ages ago that it could be cool if the avengers had a collaboration of directors. each one could do the parts that play to their strengths. i didn't think of doing four films simultaneously tho.

to do this they would have to have a two year gap after captain america. each actor basically does a solo film amount of work thats cut between the films. so everyone gets their hero moments. without the films just being hero moment after hero moment. they can stagger when the actors arrive to the show. the first actor would finish say a month after the last actor had arrived. giving them that month to do scenes with all the principles together.